
THE LATE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



BY THE RIGHT REY. HENRY U. ONDERDONK, D. D„ 

Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Pennsylvania. 


Published by request of the Joint Committee of the Councils. 


PHILADELPHIA: 



J. CRIS8Y, PRINTER, NUMBER FOUR, MINOR STREET. 

1841. 









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A SERMON 


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DELIVERED IN CHRIST CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA, 


©it Euesttaij, ajm'l 20,1841, 


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BY REaUEST OF THE CITY COUNCILS*, 


AT THE 


FUNERAL SOLEMNITIES 


IN HONOUR OF 


THE LATE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 


BY THE RIGHT REV. HENRY U. ONDERDONK, D. D., 

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Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Pennsylvania. 


Published by request of the Joint Committee of the Councils. 


PHIU ADELPHIA: 

J. CRISSY, PRINTER, NUMBER FOUR, MINOR STREET. 

1841. 












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Philadelphia , April 21 , 1841 . 


Right Reverend Sir, 

The undersigned, a Joint Committee of Councils, appointed to make arrange¬ 
ments for public funeral honours to the memory of the late venerated President Har¬ 
rison, respectfully present to you the thanks of the Councils of the City of Philadel¬ 
phia, for the truly appropriate and impressive Sermon preached by you on the occa¬ 
sion, at Christ Church, and solicit from you a copy of the discourse for publication. 

Very respectfully, 

Your obedient servants, 

JOSEPH R, CHANDLER, 
ISAAC ELLIOTT, 

JOHN THOMASON, 
EDWARD PENINGTON, 
GEORGE SHARSWOOD, 
SAMUEL BRECK. 

TO TnE RIGHT REV. H. U, ONDERDONR, 

Bishop ol the Protestant Episcopal Church in Pennsylvania. 


Philadelphia , April 21 , 1841 . 

To Messrs. Joseph R. Chandler, Isaac Elliott, John 
Thomason, Edward Penington, George Shars- 
wood, and Samuel Breck, Committee , <^c. 

Gentlemen, 

l cheerfully comply with the request of the Joint Committee of the City Councils, 
to have for publication a copy of the Sermon delivered yesterday in Christ Church. 

Very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

H. U. 


ONDERDONK. 





































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SERMON 


Psalm XLIX., 'part of verse 12. 

MAN BEING IN HONOUR ABIDETH NOT. 

Who can require proof of this declaration, with the 
fact before him that brings this assemblage together! 
What greater “honour,” than to be the chief Magis¬ 
trate of a large and growing empire ! what fleeter evan¬ 
escence, than to hold the distinction for only a month! 
A citizen, already eminent, is sought out for this high 
office,—the nation is in a movement never equalled, to 
decide whether it will give it him,—the decision is made, 
and the office actually conferred. The venerable man 
who is the choice of his fellow-citizens, is found to be 
yet more favoured by the large vote he received. All 
this greatness he enjoys for one month. And then is 
the truth of the divine word most remarkably illustra¬ 
ted: “man being in honour abideth not.” We need 
not stop to enquire whether the highest place in a na¬ 
tion has ever before been held for so short a period. 
It is enough to mark this event as unique, that never 
has supreme greatness been so conferred, to be so soon 
hid in the tomb. 



6 


My brethren : your preacher is designated to his 
present function by our respected city authorities ; and 
perhaps also by the obvious propriety of his represent¬ 
ing, in this part of the Union, and on this occasion, the 
church in which the illustrious departed was numbered. 
Your preacher belongs not to the political world; and 
takes no part, either here or elsewhere, whether for or 
against the distinctive political opinions of the vener¬ 
able chief Magistrate whom God hath removed from 
us. Nor was your preacher honoured with the per¬ 
sonal acquaintance of the late President; and, as I 
could but repeat, from his known history and charac¬ 
ter, vrhat is already before the public, I may well de¬ 
cline offering remarks on those topics. With his ca¬ 
reer as a soldier, a statesman, a magistrate, you are all 
familiar. His private and domestic virtues are well 
attested. And, best of all, good evidence there is, that 
his heart was governed by religion, by Christian prin¬ 
ciple and holy faith; and that in his conduct he “ adorn¬ 
ed the doctrine of his God and Saviour.” Would to 
God, that all men in high places would afford such a 
testimony during their life, and leave such a testimony 
at their death! 

This fragrant remembrance of the piety of our late 
chief Magistrate, adds to the natural propriety of your 
preacher’s avoiding secular topics on this occasion, and 
devoting the brief space allowed him to reflections more 
becoming this holy place:—such reflections, we may 
believe, were the more acceptable to him whose memo¬ 
ry we honour; and, with God’s blessing, they will be 
far more profitable to us. Allow me then, in a few 
remarks of the most unpretending character, to direct 
your minds to a religious view of the text, u man being 


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in honour abideth not.” And may the Holy Spirit im¬ 
press the instruction on our hearts ! 

Taking the words literally, the psalmist employs 
here an hyperbole, as a strong expression of an impor¬ 
tant truth : the personage ‘ honoured/ as if halting but 
a few hours at an “ inn/’ continueth scarcely a night 
on this prominent stage of his journey; he is not there 
on the morrow. Man’s whole life is but a pilgrimage, 
a journey without a home; and of that pilgrimage, his 
life in eminent station is but as a single night. And 
so, verily, it often appears; for time has no absolute 
measurement. Turn to the warrior who fought his 
way to empire, and who, for some twenty years, filled 
the world with his expanding fame. He fell from this 
eminence, and died a captive: and twenty years more 
withdrew from him and his the effective thoughts of the 
world. It is only a rhetorical exaggeration then, not 
untruth, to say that he abode but as the night of a weary 
traveller amid his thickly strewed glories. So brief 
does time appear, when past! Contemplate then the 
much fleeter course of our late President; and it is 
scarcely exaggeration even, to declare that he tarried 
but as a night in his honourable sojourn. 

But my text was chosen, not for criticism, but for 
direct and unadorned edification. And how forcible a 
warning does it present of the vanity of even the best 
of things earthly!—how deep an admonition ‘ not to 
love the world, nor the things that are in the world!’ 
Honours, honourably gained, are perhaps the best of 
merely temporal good; yet in even these no mortal 
“ abideth.” They pass away like things unreal; or 
man passeth from them as if they were never his. Well, 
therefore, may we exclaim, with the holy writer, “ man 


8 


walketh in a vain showwe are but bearing parts in 
an empty exhibition. The world is a great drama, in 
which the actors give to their feelings and passions, all 
their strength, all their anxiety, all their hope; asking 
no happiness but to succeed in this exhibition. And 
when their brief part is ended, what has it proved but 
as the unreal pageant of a theatre; the illusion indeed 
longer sustained, and at greater cost, yet as utterly un¬ 
substantial when finished! When their brief part is 
ended, what have their exertions gained, but the grati¬ 
fication of some transient hours, without one enduring 
profit for those dreary hours which are to come after 
present delusions have ceased! “Man abideth not” 
with the “vain show:” the “vain show” abideth not 
with man. The world is like those false pictures pro¬ 
duced by art, in which the eye beholds a beautiful ob¬ 
ject, while there is nothing to be grasped or felt. Such 
a deception of the world is perfect. We perceive in it 
things most desirable, highly coloured and gilded; we 
are caught by the glare, and make the strenuous effort 
to be foremost in reaching the splendid illusion; we 
persevere, and are successful: but the prize fades in our 
hand; it never had substance. St. Paul uses a similar 
metaphor, “ the fashion of this world passeth away;” 
the joys and the grandeur of the world, and ultimately 
the very form of the world itself, pass quickly by, and 
are gone. Embellish as we may the earthly scene, it 
is but a pageant. Yet in this scene only it is, that man 
finds his temporal “ honours.” What wonder then, 
that they abide not with him ! What wonder, that he 
“ abideth” not with them ! 

The reason why earthly things are so unsubstantial 
and vain, so fleeting and unsatisfactory, is, that men 


9 


are sinful. Sin hath disordered the world, and made 
its affairs what they would not have been had innocence 
remained. Depravity hath opened our hearts to false 
and deceptive notions. Imagine a community of men 
not fallen : there, none desire wealth, perhaps there is 
no wealth; and this whole illusion is unknown : none 
desire power or distinction; so that there is no ambi¬ 
tion : yet, if government is bestowed on any, they min¬ 
gle nothing of mere personal gratification with the faith¬ 
ful discharge of their trust. Here would be a world of 
things real, though not heavenly. In such a world, 
man might be “ in honour,” yet “ abide” long. Such, 
however, is not our world. Sin hath made it a “ vain 
show;” and as death approaches, it becomes like an 
emptied theatre. How important then, are religion and 
heavenly wisdom, to plant the convictions of faith, to 
unfold the hopes of faith, and urge the reluctant soul 
from attractions so delusive, and prepare it for the 
realities of the world that is eternal! 

Turn we again to the text;—“man being in honour 
abideth not.” The personal excellence, and the useful 
qualities of those who depart hence, are lost to the 
world. All that we have prized in an eminent fellow- 
mortal, vanishes at death : “ the eye which saw him 
will see him no more; neither will his place any more 
behold him.” The eye beheld him with reverence. In 
the human form, there is beauty and dignity: as much 
as the body can resemble spirit, our bodies are the 
‘ image of God,’ expressing the divine qualities lodged 
within them: and a deep lesson it is, when such forms 
are doomed to embrace corruption and be food for 
the worm. Add to this general nobleness of the aspect 
of man, speaking him lord here below,—add to it the 
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commanding look of superior intellect, the ardent ex¬ 
pression of genius, the features which betoken more of 
sterling qualities than they distinctly proclaim; and you 
have the highest imprints of the human countenance. 
And when death effaces such an imprint, we feel regret 
that it could not protect the valued object that bore it. 

Yet further: “man being in honour abideth not” in 
the “place” he occupied here. By the death of emi¬ 
nent men, we are deprived of the continuance of the 
good which they were the means of conferring. They 
have lived for the benefit of society; they have been 
nearly connected with the national welfare. Perhaps 
such an one had borne honourably the burden of high 
official station. Or, he had served his fellow-citizens 
usefully without being in office. He may also, in either 
case, have been the creator of his own eminence, and 
have seen that eminence willingly accorded by the so¬ 
cial body around him. They had looked to him as 
their example, their guide, their benefactor. Even his 
private virtues had thus been brought into notice; and 
had become objects of imitation for the 4 cloud of wit¬ 
nesses with which he was encompassed/ We often 
know not the value of such individuals, till death re¬ 
moves them from us: for the benefits they conferred 
were so many and so perpetual, yet so unostentatious, 
that we received them almost imperceptibly; their in¬ 
fluence was so gentle and unobtrusive, that we yielded 
without feeling it. There often is something in pure 
love to a worthy public character, that makes it kin¬ 
dred with personal affection ; it is gratifying to bestow 
it on an object in whom we have a deliberately formed 
confidence; its very bondage is pleasing; and the 
“ honours” we offer with it, we feel to be reflected on 


11 


ourselves. Such an attachment is the dictate of re¬ 
ligion; for, as in any way benefactors, the class of per¬ 
sons we refer to are entitled to this gratitude, whether 
in deeds or in the heart; and, if they are in authority, 
their right is yet stronger, for they are to us “the min¬ 
isters of God,” acting towards us and for us in the 
place of God; and the love we thus yield them is a 
branch of the love we owe to the Divine Sovereign. 
All this affection is due to the higher magistrates, and 
proportionally to the lower, on the principles even of 
natural religion; and Christianity ratifies the practical 
duties flowing from it by her commandments, and its 
spirit by her spirit. And when an object of such reve¬ 
rence and kind feeling is called from this world, we 
mourn his departure with emotions, not so excited in¬ 
deed, yet not unlike those which overcome us under 
more tender bereavements. We exclaim, with the in¬ 
spired man, “ the beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high 
places.” And if such a public friend is cut off in the 
height of his usefulness, or in our highest expectation 
of his usefulness, how utter appears the desolation of 
the 1 places which behold him no more !’ and how does 
much of our exulting hope seem buried in his grave! 
We share the withering force of the truth, “man being 
in honour abideth not.” Even the best “ honour” in 
this world, and some of its best affection, are but as 
vanity. What then can be better than vanity, but the 
qualities and the affections that will endure for ever, 
and for ever increase, in the world above! 

To extend our view of the ‘ unabiding honours’ of 
man, we turn to those whose talents are lost to us at 
death. Ample is the sphere for which God designs the 
benefit of His choicer intellectual gifts; exalted the 


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distinction awaiting an individual thus endowed. He 
feels the energy of an expansive mind; and its powers 
are evolved by the labours of youth, and extended by 
the cultivation of riper years. Or perhaps, native ge¬ 
nius impels him at once to enter upon an admired 
course, in some department in which ardour may suffice 
for a noble beginning, while greater applause will mark 
its mature progress. From such classes of men, are 
furnished the < burning and shining lights’ of the world ; 
and the world often acknowledges its obligation to 
them. Science is explored, or the heart instructed, or 
human misery alleviated, or public justice and the fab¬ 
ric of society improved, by their persevering meditation 
and patient study; or the country is defended by their 
instinctive valour, or governed by their counsel almost 
instinctively wise. In such benefits multitudes rejoice ; 
for such benefits multitudes are grateful, and magnify 
willingly their benefactor ; while yet they look for more, 
deeming the talents that conferred them a mine inex¬ 
haustible, or the services rendered too valuable ever to 
cease. But such fancies are illusion. A day, a moment, 
may annihilate the hope of those who indulge them. 
Disease hath fixed his iron grasp on their favourite ; 
his intellectual majesty is palsied; his manly arm is 
nerveless; his vigour of judgment is prostrate; he is 
borne away to the tomb. Talent, skill, knowledge, 
wisdom, valour, all are gone; and the mind that was 
almost more than human, will never again irradiate this 
world. How mysterious the providence, which thus 
kindles a luminary, to extinguish it when its ray shall 
diffuse the widest promise ! How mysterious the provi¬ 
dence, which excites thus human expectation, and cen¬ 
tres human attachment, in some revered personage; and 


13 


then casts over him the veil of death, and hides him 
from us! Our eyes and our hopes attempt in vain to 
follow him into his concealment; and we are left with 
the poor consolation, “ man being in honour abideth 
not.” 

No, brethren, we will not deem such a providence 
mysterious ; for it points to a future state. It teaches 
that this world is not excellent enough for our noble 
faculties, but they must find larger expansion and high¬ 
er employment in a better state of things. If here so 
exercised, as to have the “ glory of God” through the 
Redeemer for their primary or their ultimate object, 
they are called hence to minister to his glory in func¬ 
tions more exalted. Much as the good and the wise 
knew here, they knew but in part; whether it were in 
the study of God, in the study of affairs, or in the study 
of nature: nor could their knowledge of any thing be 
perfect, without ascending to that world where there is 
no imperfection; much less could they know the things 
that belong to that world only. To that world there¬ 
fore, the good and the wise depart. And though mor¬ 
tal ‘ eyes’ behold them no more, eyes immortal will see 
them, in the resurrection, beaming with the 1 glory of 
the incorruptible body!’ Though earthly ‘places’ are 
deprived of them, they will enter the better heavenly 
places, and stand in “ honour” in the presence of the 
Eternal. The faculties that can avail in that holy world 
will there remain; and the mind, entering the new 
* tabernacle,’ the new body, prepared for it, will again 
expand, with nobler powers, purified from all that 
weakened or debased it while on this fallen earth. 

Your preacher has thus far willingly combined great¬ 
ness and goodness, in the thoughts laid before you; for 


14 


they are believed to have been combined in the vene¬ 
rated personage whose death has called forth these 
general remarks. But there may be earthly greatness 
without goodness; greatness in office or rank, greatness 
in learning and science, greatness in the cabinet, in the 
senate, in the field, greatness in the halls of justice, and 
even in the church of God; all, without the only real 
goodness, “ repentance towards God, and faith in our 
Lord Jesus Christ.” When persons of such character 
depart from this world, their future world is not that 
we have described, but a condition of endless ignominy 
and pain. They have been great in those things only 
which begin and end on the earth; they have not cul¬ 
tivated the “ glory” that belongs to heaven. Nothing 
have they to take thither; and their earthly greatness 
is their only reward. They have shared, also, with the 
whole human race, the depravity common to all; but 
they have not, like the godly, obtained pardon through 
the atonement of Christ, and been purified by the Spirit 
of grace. Their depravity they take with them to the 
other world ; and it makes them unfit for heaven, and 
consigns them to perdition. Earthly greatness was the 
only reward they sought, the only reward they obtain¬ 
ed ; and it follows them not when they die. How deep¬ 
ly woful, in the case of those to whom so much hath 
been given, and who have so little improved it, to have 
to exclaim, “man being in honour abideth not.” 

But man “in honour” here, and prepared likewise 
for heavenly “honour,” will “ abide;” he will “abide” 
for ever in the everlasting world. He goes where all 
is “glory, honour, and immortality.” He goes where 
God can make him “ruler over many things.” He goes 
where the Saviour ‘ will grant to him to sit with him in 


15 


his throne, even as He is on the throne of the Father.’ 
There is figure indeed in such descriptions; hut it is 
not empty figure. And the least they can signify is, 
that the righteous “ abide” in “ honour” in the heaven¬ 
ly world. 

In heaven, we shall be no more perplexed with the 
“ vain show” that here deludes us; all will be reality; 
holy joys, perfect knowledge, everlasting existence, and 
the unfading brightness of the Father’s countenance. 
Such, Christian, is thy sure prospect. And know, that 
it may, in part, be enjoyed even here. Abandon the 
desires and pursuits that are vain; devote your heart to 
the realities of virtue and godliness, of faith and repen¬ 
tance, of the things that are of account in the celestial 
world; and a stream from the celestial fountain will 
reach your heart, for refreshment through the earthly 
pilgrimage. The Spirit of God is a fountain inexhaus¬ 
tible ; his 1 renewing is shed on us abundantly through 
Jesus Christ our Saviour.’ Surrender the baseless 
hopes of the world, for the “ sure Foundation” and the 
“ tried Corner Stone ;” and you will partake of the joy, 
the peace, the hope, of those who are ‘redeemed unto 
God by the Saviour’s blood.’ Thus “lay up treasure 
in heaven,” and you may begin to enjoy it while on the 
earth. 

Or, do any object, that such thoughts and motives are 
too highly spiritual, to produce effect on minds not re¬ 
ligiously enlightened ? Let me return then to the gloomy 
facts which require no spirituality to comprehend them. 
Does he who has reached middle age, find it difficult to 
acknowledge, that worldly pursuits and worldly for¬ 
tunes are generally but “ vanity and vexation of spirit?” 
Is there an individual who sees not, in the mournful 


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event we commemmorate, the glaring stamp of the emp¬ 
tiness of earthly “ honours V ’ The departed first Magis¬ 
trate of our land had gained every thing he could hope 
for; much more, probably, than he had ever expected, 
till past middle age. And of this he had one month’s 
enjoyment; if, indeed, the enjoyment was not drowned 
in the toil and the care. And, but for his religious 
character, bitter would be the vanity, that, reaching the 
“ honour” in which he “ abode not,” he had gained what 
to him was “the whole world,” yet had f lost his soul.’ 

Here then, brethren, are some of the facts: whither 
look we for the cause ? We need not seek it “ afar off.” 
My sins and yours contribute to the disorder, the sor¬ 
row, the delusion, that prevail on the earth; and to the 
sins of mankind at large, the whole is due. My sins 
and yours are rebuked in the visitations of severity 
which God inflicts on the earth, or on our country. Be 
such the reflections we carry with us, from the contem¬ 
plation of death, to the scenes of life. Let our hearts 
cherish every solemn thought we have this day gather¬ 
ed; and while thus “musing” faithfully, “the fire” of 
the Spirit shall be “kindled.” Thus glowing, our souls 
will become more pure and more precious, under the 
hand of Him who “sits as a refiner’s fire,” and so be 
prepared for ‘ the day when He shall make up his hea¬ 
venly jewels.’ How unspeakable the “honour,”—and 
it “ fadeth not away,” but “ abideth” for ever,—how 
unspeakable the “honour,” of being “jewels” in the 
Redeemer’s eternal “ crown of glory!” 


THE END. 


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